Category: journal

Yesterday I got some major rewrite work done on Gods Tomorrow, and I hope to get as much again done today. I’ll do a project report on the Projects blog sometime today or tomorrow, in case you want more details.

After work yesterday, we had dinner at Taco Bell, then grabbed some Church’s Chicken (by request) for N– and K– and N–‘s parents, who are staying with them. We took dinner to their place about 6:30, and T– held baby Jason while I corralled AB, and talked with them some.

Once they were done with dinner, we all moved to the living room and sat and talked for about an hour. Those first couple weeks home from the hospital are pretty bad — I remember all too well — but they seem to be falling into their stride. They were both looking a lot better than they had in the hospital, and I’m sure they’ll be right back into their normal lives within a week or so.

We got home around 8:30, and watched some Conan with AB before we put her to bed. Then we didn’t last long after that. T– went to bed to read, and I took care of a few quick things in WoW, then headed to bed myself.

I woke up around 4:00 with a nosebleed, and had to take care of that, then AB woke us up crying around 5:30, and she’d gotten sick in her bed, so we had to clean that up before we could get her to go back to sleep. I went back to bed, then, but didn’t really fall back asleep before my alarm went off.

So it was a rough night. Still, it’s Friday, so all I’ve got to do is drag through the day at work, and then I’ve got a quiet, relaxing weekend to look forward to.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.

So, I don’t think I mentioned this yet, but we’ve been having plumbing problems.

As part of the construction project to renovate the kitchen, we had to bypass an old copper drain vent that ran from the sink/dishwasher drain up through the roof (and right through our window). As I mentioned when describing the project, we just capped that off, knowing it could impact our plumbing, but hoping it wouldn’t.

Then over the weekend T– was doing a load of laundry and I stepped out in the garage to grab something, and noticed a stream of water creeping from the water heater cabinet down toward the door. We’d encountered that a couple years ago when we had a clog in one of our drains, and the washing machine would regularly flood the garage when it drained. I recognized the effect immediately, and given the timing I just assumed it had to do with the capped drain vent.

Yesterday I opened that closet in the garage and pulled off the sheet of drywall hiding the drainpipes, and discovered (remembered?) that there’s a dedicated vent right above the washing machine drain. So that gave me some hope that a plumber would have access enough to fix the problem. It occurred to me that maybe that vent had been clogged for a while, and the one upstream was doing double duty. In that case, a quick snaking of the vent pipe would stop the drain from backing up.

So T– called our favorite plumber, and he came out this morning and did exactly that — snaked down through that vent, and it immediately fixed our problem. T– even had a coupon from the phone book, so it cost less than a hundred bucks to get it taken care of. Before he left she told him exactly what we’d done, and he told us (as we had guessed, before our garage started flooding) that we probably wouldn’t have any serious problems with the capped vent. So that’s a relief.

Anyway, the plumbing situation is resolved now. Last night, we went to El Chico for dinner with my sister and her family. We showed up at 6:00, and the waiter didn’t come around to take our orders until 6:30, and then the food didn’t show up until about 7:10. That was a problem, because T– had prepared cupcakes for a birthday party for AB at church, which started at 7:00. The girls ate quickly, and then my sister complained to the manager and we got a free dinner. Nice!

Then I took my brother-in-law back to the house while the rest of them rushed to church late for AB’s party. It was Jeff’s first time seeing the remodeled kitchen, and we spent half an hour discussing the work that had gone into it.

When the girls got home, we talked for a bit until the little ones started fussing, and then my sister took her kids home to go to bed. T– and I watched Lost (a really good one, and frustratingly short even at 40 minutes), and a couple other shows before going to bed.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.

I’m finally over whatever ailment had me down all weekend. Last night I was still dragging some (and T–, too, but of an ailment all her own), but today I’m finally feeling pretty much well.

After work yesterday we had D– over, and T– made him steaks as a birthday treat. They turned out awesome, as did the homemade mashed potatoes and the fruit salad she threw together as a dessert.

Then we spent the evening watching TV. T– gave AB a bath, and I spent some more time getting the fileserver up to speed, but all around it was a quiet night.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.

Last Thursday night, T– and I went out for a Valentine’s date. She was at the zoo when I first got home from work, which gave me time to wrap my gift to her (season 6 of Law and Order) and scribble down a quick card by way of iambic meter. Then T– got home from the zoo, and shortly after D– showed up to babysit AB.

T– and I went up to the Old Chicago in Edmond, and had some fantastic pizza. Then on the drive toward the theater we looked up showtimes for Bride Wars, and learned that our options were either ten minutes in the past, or two hours later. So we decided to go shopping instead.

We found AB’s birthday present at Toys R Us, then picked up some gellato and headed home. We spent most of the rest of the evening on the couch, watching Thursday night comedy.

Friday I woke up feeling sicker than ever, but I’d used up my RDO on Monday, so I came in to work anyway. Late in the morning, I started getting calls about K– and N– being at the hospital, with the baby apparently ready to come out (two weeks early). I cooled my heels until a little after noon, then finally decided to call it quits for the day. I figured chances were good I’d be spending the afternoon in the waiting room at the hospital, but if not I wouldn’t mind taking the afternoon off to convalesce a little bit.

K– and N– ended up going home a couple hours later, but they were back that night and by 11:00 it was clear that it was really happening this time. I took K– some dinner around midnight, and hung around until a nurse said they should probably get some sleep, and plan on having the baby in the morning.

N–‘s mom came to crash our place, just to be close to the hospital, so the two of us got to the house between 1:00 and 2:00 Saturday morning, and it was a while before I fell asleep. When I finally did, I slept until about 11:00.

I got up and got dressed in time to take some lunch up to the hospital for K–. Things hadn’t benn progressing very quickly at that point, so we spent about an hour waiting out in the waiting room, having lunch and talking with K– and N–‘s family as they arrived, and then finally gave up and headed home so an increasingly fussy AB could get a nap.

D– called and asked if I could pick him up from Best Buy, where he was getting a new stereo installed in his car, but halfway there he called and told me they couldn’t do it, so I took care of a couple errands and headed back home. Right about then AB was waking up from her nap and K– called to say things were starting to happen, so we headed back up to the hospital.

We got to see N– briefly, then went out to wait in the sitting room with the family, and E– (joined shortly by B–), and eventually even D– showed up. We had a real party going on in the waiting room.

Of course, as you’ll know by now, the baby was born at 6:14. We waited another forty minutes to get in and see him, congratulate K– and N–, and then we headed home, leaving them to be with their visiting family.

I dropped T– and AB off, and ran up to Edmond to grab some barbecue from Steve’s Rib. When I got back to the house D– was there, and we ate and watched some TV for a while, then T– headed to bed early and I threw The Big Lebowski in while D– and I played WoW.

Around 11:00 again, K– called and asked if I could bring him some dinner. D– came with, and we took some food up and got to visit with them for a while before they decided they were ready to get some sleep. I remember what it’s like those days in the hospital — you’re desperate for some diversion, like a good conversation with visitors, but even more so for sleep. We cleared out, and got back to the house around 1:00.

Just before we left I’d gotten caught up in a project on the computer, organizing my fileserver, and instead of going to bed I picked up where I’d left off, so I was up until nearly 3:00 working on that. Then I woke up Sunday morning on time to get to church, but I still wasn’t over my sinus infection, and my stomach rebelled something fierce. So I stayed home, waited it out, and then didn’t go along when T– headed to the hospital for a quick visit after church.

We spent the afternoon on the couch, T– watching Law and Order and me working on the fileserver. Later in the afternoon Toby called to say he and Gwyn wanted to visit K– and N– at the hospital, and asking for the room number. They suggested we could get together for dinner afterward, and we were all for it.

We ended up going to Texas Roadhouse, and spent a couple fun hours with the Nances. It’s always good to see them. Afterward we headed home, and spent the rest of the night the way we’d spent the afternoon.

Monday was President’s Day, so I was off work. I slept in again, but woke up in time to pick D– up from an automotive shop that was going to install his new stereo. That was up in Edmond, and I took him straight from there to the hospital, where T– was already waiting for us.

We spent a while in the waiting room, chasing AB around and chatting with the family, then got to see K– and N– and little baby Jason all in a crowd. We packed the room, and everybody who was healthy (read, “not me”) got to hold the baby, and we had a grand old time. We also learned they would be going home that evening, which was good news to all, I’m sure.

We left after a bit, sometime early afternoon, and I dropped D– off at his place then went home to play some WoW. A few hours later, 5-ish, he called to tell me that the automotive place had been unable to install his stereo (but had waited six hours to tell him that), and he needed a ride to go pick up the car. Ugh.

We got back from that errand a few minutes before our babysitter arrived to watch AB. Then we (D– and T– and I) headed up to the mall for a quick meal in the food court, and then an eight o’clock showing of Coraline.

The movie was great. Nightmarish, but in a good way. It’s billed as a scary fairy tale, and it does the job. T– and D– liked the artistic style a lot. I wasn’t really a fan, but I did enjoy what they did with the story. It was captivating.

We got back home after ten, so that was pretty much it for the day. Bed, sleep, and now it’s Tuesday and I’m back to work.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.

I mentioned feeling under-the-weather Monday morning, and that has kicked in with a vengeance. Starting yesterday morning (and then worse today), I’ve got a throatache, a headache, and a bit of an upset stomach. It feels like strep, but every time I say it feels like strep I end up with a sinus infection, so it’s probably a sinus infection.

Either way, bah.

After work yesterday T– and AB went to a dinner at the church, but I wasn’t feeling up to the socializing, so I stayed home. D– came over a little after 6 and we ran to Freddy’s for a burger, then Best Buy to see if they had some software he’s been wanting (they did).

Then we came back home, and I showed him a couple of the funnier episodes of “Flight of the Conchords” before T– got home. Once she did, we turned on “Lost,” and when D– left after that, we watched an episode of “Law and Order” before retiring early. I was in bed until nearly 7 this morning, but I didn’t really get much sleep (and, as I said, woke up feeling awful).

Bah. Bah and bah.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.

Friday night, K– invited the guys out for a long-discussed pre-baby drinking night. Sort of like last hurrah before fatherhood. I dunno.

Although there were five names on the invitation, it ended up being D– and K– and me, and that was enough for a fairly impressive evening of revelry. We started at Henry Hudsons, where we ate and drank and talked programming and politics (and D– and K– discovered a startling similarity of ideas, even if it’s offset by a difference of priorities), then between eleven and midnight we took the party to Fox and Hound, where the atmosphere was more pleasant even if the drinks were more expensive. By that point we didn’t have that much drinking left in us anyway.

We did close the place down, though.

D– dropped me off at home around 2:45, and I stayed up playing WoW until 3:45 before I finally felt ready to fall asleep.

In the end, I basically traded in half of my Saturday for some extra Friday, because I didn’t end up crawling out of bed until 3-ish on Saturday afternoon. Shortly after that T– disappeared for her crop at the church, and I spent the evening watching TV and reading books with AB. I tried to feed her dinner, but she wasn’t interested. She had a good time, though, and went to bed a little before nine.

After that I spent the evening getting caught up on “Flight of the Conchords” and playing WoW, and T– got home from the crop earlier than usual and we both went to bed at a reasonable hour.

Sunday morning, after church, we had lunch at the regular second Sunday fellowship. We sat with K– and N–, of course, and we were right next to the Bolings and the McElroys. As we got up to head home, Jerry Boling asked me about my writing (indicating that he would be interested in reading one of my books), and then Rob McElroy’s son invited me to join in a writing group with him and a couple other people from the congregation, and I didn’t have the nerve to say no. So apparently I’m doing that.

K– and N– came by the house after that, to officially admire our handiwork. I also spent some time discussing my HTPC with K–, and talking about the MovieHoard plugin, which he’s been working on extensively.

T– and I spent the afternoon watching “Psych” while AB napped, and then K– and N– came back over for dinner. They brought the ingredients, and T– and I made up some chili. It was delicious.

Monday morning, I woke up early but feeling unwell (more tired than anything else), and ended up calling in sick for the day. I had an RDO scheduled for Friday anyway, so I went ahead and burned it early, to stay home with T– and AB. We took care of several of T–‘s errands, running up to Hobby Lobby in the morning and then going grocery shopping later in the afternoon. We also grabbed some Schlotzky’s for lunch (delicious), and then T– made hamburgers and hotdogs for dinner (even more delicious). D– joined us for that, and hung around for a pretty quiet evening watching TV and playing WoW.

Then Tuesday I finally came back to work. Mid-afternoon, I got a call from T– informing me of killer tornadoes in the area, and spent the next couple hours in mortal terror for my family’s safety. In the end, we never saw anything damaging at our house, and the worst we know of for friends and family were some power outages at my sister’s house and K– and N–‘s, but in both cases they were resolved within a few hours.

Still, it was an exciting few hours. We had frozen pizza for dinner and I worked on our finances, then watched “Flight of the Conchords” with T– while she got caught up with me. As she said, the whole show is basically just really complicated music videos, for a They Might Be Giants-style novelty band. Each 22-minute episode is essentially an 8-minute setup for a 3-minute song, rinse and repeat.

I find it hilarious. It’s the sort of comedy I expected from the British version of “The Office” when everyone was saying the British version was so much better than the American version. (I never liked it much.) This is good quality absurdism, though.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.

Yesterday after work I figured out how to install the cabinet doors on our new island. It’s the most bizarre and, at the same time, coolest latching mechanism for a cabinet door hinge I’ve ever seen. (And, yes, you would be right to assume that’s a fairly small set).

The kitchen looks finished now. There’s still some stuff we plan to do, but it no longer looks like a construction site. That’s easier on the psyche, because I don’t walk in the door and think of all the stuff that still needs to get done anymore. Maybe T– does, since the kitchen is a bigger part of her daily life, but for me it was just about getting the ugly hidden under a sheet of plywood and a couple coats of paint.

I made up some salsa (by which I mean poured a jar of Pace picante sauce into a blender and pressed the “Mix” button for about twenty seconds), and T– made quesadillas for dinner. D– came over, too. We watched Lost, and then D– went home to raid and T– and I watched 30 Rock, The Office, and My Name is Earl.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.

Yesterday I had something of an epiphany concerning my posts to this blog, remembering that my original goal was to track my various projects through the idea, preparation, development, and distribution phases. That is to say, when I come up with a new idea for a story, I’d like to post it here, then chronicle the prewriting process, monitor my progress through writing it, and discuss both my reader reviews and the process of trying to get it published, as I go through that.

Same thing for programming projects, and any of the many other distractions I invest my time in.

Instead, I post daily about all the little things I’m doing, treating the ongoing projects more as assumed background information than actual highlights.

So I’m going to try to reverse that (or possibly just separate the two, making project reports separate from my journal entries). I didn’t end up having time yesterday, though, and today’s not looking great.

I’ll do the journal real fast, though. Last night after work D– brought dinner over so he could check out the work we’d done in the kitchen (which is nearly complete, after T– put in a full afternoon painting). We were also watching my niece Sophy, and she and AB played pretty well together.

I also received a new computer case and a new remote, which works with XP. Actually…it came with software that allowed my old remote to work with XP, which is awesome because (1) it had a lot more buttons than the new one does, and (2) my Harmony remote is already programmed for those buttons. So I spent about an hour getting it set up, and now it works like a charm.

Well, an hour for the remote. D– and I together spent almost two hours getting the computer transferred into the new case (a low-profile Home Theater PC shell). It was a lot of work, with not entirely satisfactory results in terms of the installation, but the finished product is a real beauty. It fits on a shelf in our entertainment center, and as I said I have the remote working for it again.

We’re using XBMC as our media center — a port of the old homebrew software for a modded XBox. One of the big advantages of that is that it has Python-based plugin and scripting support, and I actually have a bunch of experience not only with Python, but with Python for XBMC (actually, if you do a search for the phrase “Python for XBMC,” my website is the number one Google result).

So I’m really excited that they have a Windows port of the code, and we’re putting it to good use. I’m sure some of the plugins I work on will make it into my project reports.

That was pretty much my whole night, though. I kept logging into WoW, then timing out and getting kicked off the server because I was paying more attention to my new computer setup than to the game.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.